Summer, Too Short a Season
by Relatable Alien
Summary: Levi is visiting Cath before his youngest sister goes on holidays. Levi doesn't realise how in love he is until he has to go back to Arnold. -I'll add more if people ask. Fangirl is the property of Rainbow Rowell.
1. Chapter 1

Summer had just begun and already it didn't feel long enough to Cather Avery. She sat on the lawn of her backyard with Levi. Well, Levi sat with his back against the lilac tree with Cath sprawled across his lap. She liked to be on top and his lap was a comfortable spot with sunbeams blinding her eyes. Her face was pleasantly warm, a nice alternative to the unusually long winter they'd had. A fly buzzed past her ear, off to find some crumbs from the burritos they'd eaten.

In the sky, clouds dotted the horizon like little specs, but they knew better than to hope for rain. It was going to be a dry summer, which was bad news for farmers. Luckily Levi's family and their ranch would be safe with all the snowmelt coming down the river systems, keeping the land alive like an IV drip, feeding fluids into a dried out body.

"Does your sister need a place to stay through sophomore?" Levi inquired, breaking the silence between them. It wasn't actually silent with the buzzing of flies and crickets. The sound of cars passing in front of the house also drifted into Cath's backyard, reminding Levi he was in the city, not home on the ranch miles from the nearest neighbour.

He'd agreed to stay with Cath for a few days before his youngest sister went on holidays from school. Then he'd be expected to help out at the ranch. The prospect of spending time with Cath was all Levi needed to draw him to the city. He had well and truly fallen in love.

"What?" Cath asked, not sure she'd heard him correctly.

"Wren, will she be needing a place to stay during term? A room has opened up where I rent," Levi explained. Instead of living in university accommodation, he lived in a large house with a group of students. He'd taken the room at the very top, exposed to all the elements. Freezing in winter, scorching in summer, only large enough for a bed and sofa, but Cath loved it anyway because it meant she could have time alone with Levi.

"I think she's already organised a room in Pound," Cath said. "I can ask her if you want. Are you really sure you want to be living under the same roof as my twin sister for a year?"

"Sophomore years go faster than freshman," Levi grinned. His teeth were as gorgeous as the rest of him. When he smiled, it felt like it was especially for Cath. In those moments she was sure she was the luckiest girl on Earth.

"Yeah, but you're in senior year," she reminded him, teasing slightly. Levi ran his fingers through his blonde hair, which flopped back down over his face. Unable to resist the temptation, Cath reached up, brushing her fingers over it.

"That year goes fastest of all," he flashed that charming grin at her again, melting her stomach into a pool of contentment.

"I'm going to miss you," Cath told him. "When you leave tomorrow." His grin softened as he stroked her hair back with gentle, large hands.

"I'll just have to organise with my mother when you're coming over," Levi remarked, his blue eyes shining. In his family, everything went through his mother. Nothing happened without her knowledge or permission. From what she'd heard of the woman, the idea of meeting her brought knots to Cath's stomach, tying themselves up into tangled masses of worry. He linked his long fingers with hers, entwining them together. "Don't worry, she'll like you. You'll be lucky if you can leave before school starts."


	2. Chapter 2

Levi tapped his fingers absently on the steering wheel. It was a long drive back to Arnold from Omaha. His mind kept drifting back to sitting in Cath's backyard in the lazy hours of the afternoon doing nothing in particular. How special it was to just do nothing with someone. The sun blaring through the window warmed his arm, reminding him of the sensation of her warm body leaning against his.

He risked a glance at his phone. She hadn't texted him for a few hours. Perhaps she was busy with Wren? Or maybe she was going for a walk? _  
><em>

"Dude, calm down," he told himself aloud, deciding to turn the radio on. Was it his relationship with Reagan that had left him like this? He didn't want to be away from Cath for a minute, let alone a couple weeks. Even through exams, they'd studied together, making time for each other when there wasn't any.

The radio wasn't helping and the reception between towns was poor anyway so he decided to put an audio book on instead. A few minutes in he realised he wasn't listening and turned it off. Turning off, he stopped the car and laid his head on the steering wheel. He'd forgotten what it was like to be head over heels in love. His heels were on the brake pedal, but his head was still back in Omaha, sitting in Cath's backyard.

The air con buzzing brought back his thoughts to reality. Banging hard on the dashboard until it quietened, he sat up and went back to the highway. The sooner he got to Arnold, the sooner he could talk to his mom and the sooner he talked to his mother the sooner he'd know when Cath could visit. That was reason enough to concentrate on getting home safely. A smile spread across his face as he switched the radio on and a soppy love song started to play. He sang along at the top of his lungs all the way to the next town.

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><p><strong>AN**: I just wanted to quickly thank the people who reviewed chapter one and those who asked for more. I'm sorry this isn't much. A special thank you to Ireadtomanybooks for finding a mistake I'd made using a different character name accidentally (the character is from another piece I am writing). It's fixed now. Have an awesome day and please review!


	3. Dinner with Levi's Family

**A/N: **I am not American. Mother will be shortened to "mum" not "mom". Sorry to the people this will annoy.

Also, this chapter will be moved later when I've filled in the gaps. I was struck by a temporary flash of inspiration. (if anyone can find the post where Rainbow came up with Levi's last name, or what his mother's name is, please tell me in reviews - preferably with a link to where you found it) ***UPDATE: I have found his last name that Rainbow came up with! Levi Stewart. Thank you to Guest who helped!***

- set just after Cath has arrived at Levi's house, she's having dinner with his family -

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><p>The tension was so thick a chainsaw wouldn't dent it. Cath stared at the table in front of her, feeling all the pairs of eyes around the table watching her. She couldn't bring herself to eat. Underneath the table, she screwed up her hands into tiny fists, wishing it could be over. Glancing at her subtly, Levi could tell she was at tipping point of melt down. His poker face didn't waver, he only ran his fingers through his soft, yellowy-white receding hair.<p>

"Catherine-" Levi's mother began.

"Mum," Levi hissed under his breath, reaching over under the table to wrap one of his large, warm, slightly calloused hands over Cath's. He could feel her fist relaxing at his touch, sending a half smile her way as she glanced at him as means of thanks. Levi was worried about this too, but he wasn't worried about his mother's wrath upon him - it was Cath he worried about.

"Sorry, Cath," she corrected herself, glaring at him between blinks before composing herself to re-commence the grilling. _Who names their daughter Cather? What a... modern... name! Ridiculous, really. _she thought to herself. "Do you go to Church?" Cath could hear everyone around the table hold their breaths. One second... two seconds... _Maybe if I don't say anything she'll forget I'm here and not want to talk to me? _she reasoned meekly before mentally slapping herself. _Answer or she'll think I'm rude. She can't think I'm rude. She mustn't think I'm rude. _

Opening her mouth, Cath coughed. Levi patted her back, pouring more water into her glass and handing it to her. "Thanks," she whispered to him, taking a sip. Swallowing, she cleared her throat and tried again. "No. We don't attend a Church."

"You are Christian though?" Levi's mother persisted.

"Mum, is this really necessary?" Levi interjected. She looked at him like a surprised owl, large eyes blinking as if to say _Did he really just say that? To me?!_

"Levi, I don't know what you're talking about," she stuck her chin up proudly. All he had to do was raise one eyebrow up his colossal forehead for her to get the message. One eye twitched.

"I believe how we act upon our beliefs is more important than our beliefs themselves," Cath started speaking words she was pretty sure she'd written into Simon or Baz's mouth many times before. "A Muslim can be a good person, as can an atheist or anyone for that matter. A Christian can be a bad person, as can anyone else. Your religion doesn't define you, how you live defines you." She looked up at the worst possible moment. Everyone was staring at her, transfixed upon this strange new person. Steeling her courage, she ventured to look at Levi's mother. Her head was tilted slightly to one side, turned so show slightly more of one side of her face, her lips pursed in thought, eyebrows threateningly close to frowning.

"She's right, Mum," one of Levi's younger sisters ventured, gaining the attention of the table. Cath breathed an inner sigh of relief. She wasn't the centre of the grilling anymore. "The kids at school, I talked to some of the atheist kids and they were really nice. They're not corrupting or evil. They still think that all people should be equal and that everyone should treat each other how they want to be treated, with respect." The conversation moved on to what Levi's sister was doing playing with the atheist children at school and away from Cath's little speech. Soon enough the family had turned into a bustle of voices.

"You're right," Levi whispered in Cath's ear. Surprised, she gasped and turned to face him. She hadn't realised he'd been holding her hand the entire time. Glancing down, embarrassed, she bit her lip. "You did well Cath." He winked and she blushed.

"Thanks," she told him quietly. Standing up to people was a habit she'd been starting to make that year. First Nick, now Levi's mother. The little shy girl was finding her voice.

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><p>I hope you all enjoyed that! Please don't take this as a sign I'll be posting regularly again for a while - possibly in December, but please don't kill me if I don't appear during November. (I have loads of stuff happening in November. NaNoWriMo isn't one of them sadly :( Good luck to anyone who is!)<p>

I hope you all have a wonderful day!


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